Embassy Pictures

Embassy Pictures
Industry Film studio
Fate Sold
Successor De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (theatrical)
Nelson Entertainment (home video)
ELP Communications (television)
Founded 1942
Defunct 1986
Headquarters 1901 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, California
Products Motion pictures
Parent Independent (1942–1967)
Avco Corporation (1967–1982)
Embassy Communications, Inc. (1982–1985)
The Coca-Cola Company (1985–1986)
Dino De Laurentiis Productions (1986)

Embassy Pictures Corporation (also and later known as AVCO Embassy Pictures as well as Embassy Films Associates) was an American independent film production and distribution studio responsible for such films as Godzilla, King of the Monsters!; The Graduate; The Lion in Winter; Carnal Knowledge; The Night Porter; Watership Down; Phantasm; The Fog; Prom Night; Scanners; The Howling; Escape from New York; and This Is Spinal Tap.

Founding

The company was founded in 1942[1] by Joseph E. Levine, initially to distribute foreign films in the United States. Some of Levine's early successes were the Italian-made Hercules films with Steve Reeves; Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956, a much re-edited version of Ishirō Honda's original Godzilla from 1954); and the adaptation of The Thief of Baghdad (1961), also with Reeves in the lead. Embassy also distributed Federico Fellini's film 8½ (1963) and Rick Carrier's Strangers in the City (1962).

In 1963, Levine was offered a $30 million deal with Paramount Pictures to produce films in the vein of his previous successes. Paramount would finance the films and Embassy would receive part of its profits.[2] Under the deal, Levine produced The Carpetbaggers (1964) and its prequel Nevada Smith (1966), which were successes, along with flops such as Harlow (1965), starring Carroll Baker, and The Oscar (1966).

By the 1960s, Levine had transformed Embassy into a production company. Later in the decade, Embassy functioned on its own with many Rankin/Bass animated features, including The Daydreamer (1966) and Mad Monster Party? (1967), and successful live-action productions including The Graduate (1967), The Lion in Winter and The Producers (both 1968).

New ownership and dissolution

AVCO Embassy Pictures logo, used from 1968-1982

In 1967, Embassy enjoyed its greatest success with The Graduate. This enabled Levine to sell his company to Avco for a deal worth $40 million.[3][4] Levine stayed on as chief executive. In 1969, the company bought out Mike Nichols production company and signed him to make two movies.[5]

In 1968, Avco Embassy launched Avco Embassy Television, to syndicate films from the Avco Embassy library on TV. In 1976, Avco Embassy sold their broadcasting division and Avco Program Sales to Multimedia, Inc., becoming Multimedia Entertainment; Multimedia Entertainment is now known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution,

The company became less successful in the 1970s and in 1973 recorded a loss of $8.1 million.

In 1972, the company had begun cutting back on production and by 1975 had stopped making movies altogether.[6] Levine resigned in mid 1974 to re-enter independent production.[7]

Robert Rehme years

In late 1977, Avco Embassy announced its intention to resume production. In 1978, Robert Rehme was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer and he convinced the company to give him $5 million for a production fund.

Under his stewardship, Avco Embassy concentrated on lower budgeted genre films, six of which were successful: The Manitou (1978), Phantasm (1979), The Fog (1980), Scanners (1981), Time Bandits (1981) and The Howling (1981). They benefited in part from the fact that American International Pictures recently left the exploitation field, lessening competition in this area.

Rehme left the company in 1981, having seen it increase its revenue from $20 million to $90 million.[8][9]

In 1981, Tom Laughlin offered to buy the company for $24 million but withdrew his offer.[3]

Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio

Embassy Television logo, used from 1982–1984

In January 1982, television producer Norman Lear and his partner Jerry Perenchio bought the studio for $25 million,[8] dropped "Avco" and changed the name of their own TV company T.A.T. Communications to Embassy Television and T.A.T. Communications Company to Embassy Communications, Inc. The company was producing such hits as The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, and The Facts of Life, and by Tandem, Diff'rent Strokes and Archie Bunker's Place. During this period, they launched Silver Spoons, Square Pegs, Who's the Boss?, It's Your Move, and Gloria. They also expanded into making made-for-TV movies, including Grace Kelly and Eleanor, First Lady of the World.

In late 1982, Embassy bought out Andre Blay Corporation and renamed the company to Embassy Home Entertainment; prior releases from its film catalog had been handled through Magnetic Video, as well as reissues of the Blay Video catalog. In 1984, Embassy Pictures was renamed to Embassy Films Associates. That same year, Fanny and Alexander, which it distributed in the United States, received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

During this period, Rob Reiner, whom up to that point had been most famous for playing Mike "Meathead" Stivic on All in the Family, began his directorial career with two Embassy releases, This is Spinal Tap and The Sure Thing. His third film, Stand By Me, started at Embassy, but it almost got cancelled because of the sale to Columbia days before filming was to begin. Norman Lear ended up putting up his own money for completion funds. [10]

Coca-Cola and others

Lear and Perenchio sold Embassy Communications (including Tandem Productions) to The Coca-Cola Company for $485 million on June 18, 1985,[11][12][13]

Coca-Cola kept Embassy's television division active; under their ownership the hit series 227 and Married... with Children began. Embassy Television was renamed Embassy Communications in 1986, then ELP (Embassy Limited Partnership) Communications in February 1988.

Coca-Cola, which also owned Columbia Pictures at the time, sold the theatrical division to Dino De Laurentiis, who folded the company into De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, and the home video division became Nelson Entertainment, run by Barry Spikings, along with some executives who had previously worked at DEG before it went bankrupt. Nelson Entertainment was the American subsidiary of Nelson Holdings International (NHI), a company based in Vancouver, Canada. Although De Laurentiis was now owner of Embassy, he was not given rights to then upcoming films such as Crimewave and Saving Grace (both 1986), and an adaptation of Stephen King's The Body, which became Stand by Me (1986), which became properties of Lear and Perenchio.[14][15] Nelson Entertainment, in addition to primarily handling the Embassy library for home video, also financed theatrical films in conjunction with Columbia Pictures. They were one of the primary partners, along with Columbia, in the formation of Castle Rock Entertainment, due to the home video success of co-founder Rob Reiner's Embassy-produced films which they still handled. In 1988, Nelson gave the physical manufacturing and distribution duties of their home video company to Orion Pictures, and some of their film productions were acquired by Orion as well. In 1991, Nelson was sold to New Line Cinema, who renamed the video division New Line Home Video and also briefly took over Nelson's stake in Castle Rock Entertainment.

1990s

By the early 1990s, key rights to the Embassy library transferred from company to company due to the bankruptcies of the companies that separately owned them (De Laurentiis for theatrical, Nelson for home video). Dino De Laurentiis's assets went to Parafrance International, in conjunction with Village Roadshow, while Nelson's assets were acquired by Credit Lyonnais Bank and later sold to PolyGram. Nelson's parent company, NHI continued to exist well into the mid-1990s.

Library ownership and property rights

Today, the Embassy corporation, its divisions and film and television holdings, are split. The underlying rights to a majority of the Embassy library are currently held by French production company StudioCanal, with individual media rights leased to other companies. The theatrical rights to the Embassy film library were previously managed by Stuart Lisell Films, and are now serviced by Rialto Pictures.

Home entertainment rights (DVD, Blu-ray) were previously divided among Image Entertainment, The Criterion Collection, and Anchor Bay Entertainment, via separate output deals. Currently, the majority of the best-known Embassy titles are controlled by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer due to previous VHS or DVD releases through their inheritance of PolyGram's “Epic” film library, with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment handling distribution for MGM, and in turn sublicensed to other video companies for its prestige titles packaged as special collectors’ editions. Any other remaining titles are handled by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, due to their longtime relationship with StudioCanal over their Carolco library.

Sony Pictures Entertainment retained the television rights to most of the Embassy theatrical library and the Embassy logo, names, and trademarks through its subsidiary ELP Communications.[16]

Films

Release date Title Notes
April 27, 1956Godzilla, King of the Monsters!1956 re-cut of Godzilla, originally produced and released by Toho in 1954.
July 22, 1959Herculesdistributed by Warner Bros.
February 17, 1960Jack the Ripperdistributed by Paramount Pictures
July 13, 1960Hercules Unchaineddistributed by Warner Bros.
May 28, 1961David and Goliath
August 10, 1961The Thief of BaghdadCo-production with Titanus and Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
November 17, 1961Morgan, the PirateDistributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
December 13, 1961The Wonders of AladdinDistributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
October 9, 1962Long Day's Journey Into Night
January 23, 1963The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrahdistributed by 20th Century Fox
January 22, 1964Zuluco-production with Paramount Pictures, only USA distribution
March 10, 1964The Empty Canvasco-production with Paramount Pictures
April 9, 1964The Carpetbaggersco-production with Paramount Pictures
November 14, 1964Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
December 18, 1964Contempt
June 23, 1965HarlowDistributed by Paramount Pictures
June 30, 1965Requiem for a Gunfighter
July 31, 1965The Bounty Killer
August 3, 1965Darling
October 20, 1965Village of the Giants
October 1965Git!
November 5, 1965Country Music on Broadway
November 17, 1965The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World
1966Jack FrostUS distribution only; produced by Gorky Film Studio
March 4, 1966The Oscarco-production with Paramount Pictures
April 10, 1966Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
April 10, 1966John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums
April 14, 1966Billy the Kid Versus Dracula
June 1966The Cat
June 1, 1966The Daydreamerco-production with Rankin/Bass Productions
June 10, 1966Nevada Smithco-production with Paramount Pictures
August 3, 1966A Man Called Adam
August 10, 1966The Idolco-production with Paramount Pictures
November 2, 1966Picture Mommy Dead
March 8, 1967Mad Monster Party?co-production with Rankin/Bass Productions
May 24, 1967The Caper of the Golden Bulls
June 27, 1967Woman Times Seven
September 6, 1967Where the Bullets Fly
September 27, 1967Robbery
October 25, 1967Way Out
December 2, 1967The Wacky World of Mother Gooseco-production with Rankin/Bass Productions
December 21, 1967The GraduateNorth American distribution only; United Artists held International distribution.
March 18, 1968The Producers
October 30, 1968The Lion in Winter
July 30, 1969Stiletto
November 11, 1969Don't Drink the Water
December 15, 1969Generation
March 25, 1970The Adventurersco-production with Paramount Pictures
May 1, 1970The Thirteen Chairs
August 12, 1970Soldier Blue
August 17, 1970Macho Callahan
August 26, 1970The People Next Door
October 14, 1970C.C. and Company
January 21, 1971Promise at Dawn
February 8, 1971Hot Pants Holiday
February 17, 1971The Man Who Had Power Over Women
February 28, 1971The Sporting Club
June 30, 1971Carnal Knowledge
September 15, 1971The Steagle
December 1, 1971The Ski Bum
1972Wacky Taxi
April 1, 1972J.C.
June 15, 1972A Place Called Today
August 23, 1972Rivals
September 13, 1972The Ruling Class
October 1972Thumb Tripping
November 1972The Stoolie
February 1973Jory
April 11, 1973Book of Numbers
June 15, 1973Interval
June 20, 1973A Touch of Class
August 10, 1973Night Watch
October 23, 1973The Summertime Killer
November 14, 1973Hurry Up, or I'll Be 30
December 19, 1973The Day of the Dolphin
July 20, 1974Lucky Luciano
September 20, 1974Homebodies
November 7, 1974The Tamarind Seedproduced by ITC Entertainment and Lorimar Productions
December 5, 1974The Photographer
April 30, 1975Tubby the Tuba
August 8, 1975Farewell, My Lovelyproduced by ITC Entertainment
October 22, 1975Diamonds
November 1975Petersen
December 1975Psychic Killer
January 1976The Four Deuces
February 15, 1976Deadly Hero
March 5, 1976Man Friday
April 11, 1976The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
May 19, 1976The Premonition
May 28, 1976Shoot
October 27, 1976Bittersweet Love
November 1976Pipe Dreams
December 22, 1976Voyage of the Damnedproduced by ITC Entertainment
January 1977False Face
February 9, 1977The Cassandra Crossingproduced by ITC Entertainment
March 23, 1977The Domino Principleco-production with ITC Entertainment
May 7, 1977Cross of Ironco-production with EMI Films and ITC Entertainment
August 4, 1977The Great Gundown
August 1977Sidewinder 1
October 1977The Chicken Chronicles
April 9, 1978Rabbit Test
April 28, 1978The Manitou
May 10, 1978A Different Story
June 14, 1978Go Tell the Spartans
August 1978Stingray
October 1978Born Again
November 1, 1978Watership DownUS theatrical distribution only
March 21, 1979The Bell Jar
March 28, 1979Phantasm
April 13, 1979Old Boyfriends
May 11, 1979Winter Kills
June 15, 1979Goldengirl
August 31, 1979City on Fire
September 19, 1979The Onion Field
September 28, 1979A Man, a Woman, and a Bank
January 25, 1980Fish Hawk
February 1, 1980The Fog
March 7, 1980The Black Marble
March 7, 1980Death Ship
April 1, 1980The Baltimore Bullet
April 11, 1980Night Games
June 1, 1980Hog Wild
August 15, 1980Prom Night
September 10, 1980The Exterminator
September 26, 1980Hopscotch
January 14, 1981Scanners
January 23, 1981Delusion
April 10, 1981The Howling
April 24, 1981Take This Job and Shove It
March 6, 1981Dirty Tricks
May 29, 1981The Night the Lights went out in Georgiaco-produced with Viacom Enterprises
May 29, 1981Dead & Buried
June 5, 1981Final Exam
July 10, 1981Escape from New York
August 14, 1981An Eye for an Eye
September 25, 1981Carbon Copy
October 1981Tulips
November 6, 1981Time Banditsdistribution only, produced by Handmade Films
January 22, 1982Vice Squad
January 29, 1982The Seduction
February 19, 1982Swamp Thing
March 12, 1982Parasite
May 7, 1982Paradise
June 15, 1982The Soldier
July 23, 1982The Challengedistribution only, produced by CBS Theatrical Films
July 23, 1982Zapped!
July 30, 1982Hysterical
December 10, 1982Savannah Smiles
April 8, 1983Losin' It
April 20, 1983Champions
June 17, 1983Fanny and Alexander
July 8, 1983Deadly Force
August 5, 1983Get Crazy
September 23, 1983Eddie and the Cruisers
March 2, 1984This Is Spinal Tap
September 28, 1984The Bear
March 1, 1985The Sure Thing
July 3, 1985The Emerald Forest
December 13, 1985A Chorus Lineco-produced by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and distributed by Columbia Pictures
January 31, 1986The Goodbye People
April 25, 1986Crimewaveco-produced by Renaissance Pictures and distributed by Columbia Pictures
May 2, 1986Saving Gracedistributed by Columbia Pictures

References

  1. ↑ Dick, p.79
  2. ↑ Dick, p. 80-81
  3. 1 2 "Perenchio Lear to Purchase Avco Embassy Pictures: EMBASSY: Sale May Be $25 Million" Harris, Kathryn. Los Angeles Times 25 Nov 1981: e1.
  4. ↑ "Avco to Buy Embassy Pictures From Levine For $40 Million of Common, Preferred Stock" by STANLEY PENN Staff Reporter. Wall Street Journal 06 May 1968: 8.
  5. ↑ "Mergers Set in Show Business: Avco Buys Nichols Unit MERGERS SHAPED IN SHOW BUSINESS" by LEONARD SLOANE. New York Times 19 Mar 1969: 61.
  6. ↑ "Avco Apparently Will Produce Movies After 5-Year Hiatus: Concern Would Likely Work With Others Instead of Making Films on Its Own" Wall Street Journal 6 Dec 1977: 10.
  7. ↑ "Levine, Producer, Quits as President Of Avco Embassy: Amicable Resignation" by A. H. WEILER. New York Times 30 May 1974: 33.
  8. 1 2 'Avco's Way to Lick the Movie Giants of Hollywood', New Straits Times, 6 Dec1981 p 8
  9. ↑ ROBERT REHME, KING OF THE LOW-BUDGET SHOCKERAljean Harmetz, 'Robert Rehme, King of the Low Budget Shocker', New York Times, 30 Nov 1981 Section C p13
  10. ↑ Lang, Brent. "'Stand by Me' Oral History: Rob Reiner and Cast on River Phoenix and How Coming-of-Age Classic Almost Didn't Happen". Variety.com. Variety. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  11. ↑ "Norman Lear" Coke Buys Embassy & Tandem normanlear.com Michael Schrage The Washington Post, Retrieved on January 25, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Norman Lear" Lear, Perenchio Sell Embassy Properties normanlear.com AL DELUGACH and KATHRYN HARRIS, Los Angeles Times, Retrieved on January 25, 2013
  13. ↑ "Norman Lear" Coke buys Embassy: 485 million. normanlear.com CHRISTOPHER VAUGHN and BILL DESOWITZ The Hollywood Reporter, Retrieved on January 25, 2013
  14. ↑ "De Laurentiis to Market Own Films" by ALJEAN HARMETZ Special to The New York Times. New York Times 4 Oct 1985: C3.
  15. ↑ "DE LAURENTIIS' EPIC PLAN FOR EMBASSY: FILM CLIPS FILM CLIPS" Mathews, Jack. Los Angeles Times 9 Oct 1985: h1.
  16. ↑ "Justia Trademarks"EMBASSY PICTURES - Trademark Details trademarks.justia.com, Retrieved on October 14, 2012

Further reading

  • Dick, Bernard F. "Engulfed: the death of Paramount Pictures and the birth of corporate Hollywood." The University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky (2001). ISBN 0-8131-2202-3.
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